The Exercise That Solves Upper Back Pain

A move you must add to your move list

If you do bench presses and pushups, there’s a third exercise you absolutely must add into your routine: the bat wing.

“Most people who do bench presses and pushups begin to roll their shoulders forward,” says Dan John, a strength coach in Burlingame, California. Read: They get chronically rounded shoulders. That not only makes you look like a caveman, it also causes upper back pain.

To prevent or correct rounded shoulders, you need to strengthen your rhomboids—the muscles in the middle of your upper back that pull back your shoulder blades. How? The bat wing. It’s like a row, but with an increased range of motion to make sure your rhomboids are taking the load. (And a much cooler name.) Once you master this move, you'll be ready to try The Perfect Shoulders Workout.

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Watch the video above to learn how to do the bat wing with perfect form. Hold each rep at the top of the movement for 10 seconds. Do three sets of three reps.

Bonus tip: To save time, you can perform a set of this exercise during your “rest” periods when you’re doing lower-body exercises like squats.